NOVEL FROG Xi Fu Interlude 5
Transmigrated back into the body of her child self, can the mighty Celestial Bing Meilu survive in a Xianxia world all the while staving off the advances of arrogant young masters and wannabe protagonists alike?
Why is life so hard for the Icy Beauty?
Any corrections or criticisms are welcome, I hope you enjoy Xi Fu Interlude 5
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"What?" Xiyi looked up at him in bewilderment. "What did you say?"
"I said, my name is Xi Fu and I am your biological father."
The little girl's eyes widened in confusion. She turned to look at her mom for answers. Xue Xiang silently nodded.
"You mean...You're my dad? How can you be my dad? What?" Xiyi gasped.
"We... Me and Xi Fu had an affair. I became pregnant," the mother said. "That was nine years ago. He's...he's your real father."
"That-that can't be true? You would never cheat on Dad," Xiyi said. "I can't be a bastard?"
Xue Xiang's silence was loud, her face looking down in shame. Xi Fu placed his hand on her shoulder comfortably.
"It is true. I am your real dad," he said gently.
The young girl spun to face her father, narrowing her eyes.
"If-if you're my dad- Where have you been? How come I've never met you? This doesn't make any sense!" Xiyi sniffled, tears beginning to prick at her eyes.
Xi Fu inhaled. He knelt, meeting his daughter’s eyes.
"When your mom was still pregnant with you, I was charged with some crimes and fled the city. I-I won't pretend like I had no choice but to leave you. I could have brought your mother with me. I thought it would be better for you to live as a nobleman's child than a criminal's. And-"
Xiyi's hand smacked her father in the face. Her eyes wobbled with tears and anger.
"I'm-I'm the daughter of Ji Ran! I'm not a bastard, and my dad is not a criminal! You're a liar!" she shouted.
The nine-year-old ran off angrily, sobbing. Xue Xiang immediately began to chase after her.
Xi Fu watched in silence. He sighed. He'd hoped it would have gone better than that. Though he hadn't expected any better.
'I'll give her some time to calm down-then I'll try speaking to her again,' said Xi Fu.
"I suppose that was not the conclusion you anticipated?"
As a voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts, Xi Fu spun to face the sound. Behind him stood a wizened old man with snow-white hair and a long, ragged beard. He wore simple white robes that would not look out of place in a monastery and stood barefoot, but no one would mistake him for a monk. Rather than human eyes, red, serpentine pupils gleamed in his eye sockets. Two long black horns curled up from the man's head, and crimson scales seemed to slide around just beneath his skin.
The spearman recognized the voice, recognized the man. How could he not, when statues and paintings of him were littered around the city? When he had grown up hearing tales of the man's glorious adventures and deeds. Standing before him was Hong Long Aochang, ancestor of the Redscale clan and Great Sage Realm expert. He was one of the Bird Talon Continent's foremost experts. A being that could erase Xi Fu with the same ease as stomping on an ant.
Not long ago, he would have fallen to his knees in awe and terror if he had met such an exalted figure. Scraped and bowed and spoken with the utmost deference, but the current Xi Fu would not and could not care less. Not when he had more important matters on his mind.
"No. If anything, this is about what I expected," the spearman shrugged. "No one would be happy to have their life turned upside down so suddenly… She’s right to be angry."
"If you knew it would go so poorly, why did you even try?" Aochang asked curiously.
"Because... I'm done running from my mistakes. There's no medicine for regret and I can't undo my past sins. But still... I want to make things right. To try and move forward regardless. I want to be Xiyi’s dad."
The old man nodded, stroking his beard.
"What wise words for such a fresh-faced youth! But, I ought to ask, what exactly do you plan to do now?"
"I... don't know," Xi Fu admitted.
He looked down in thought for a long moment, before posing his own question.
"Am I...Am I being selfish?" Xi Fu asked. "Inserting myself into the life of the child I abandoned? Do I even have the 'right' to redeem myself?"
Hong Long Aochan sighed, gazing up at the sky. He stayed silent for a long moment, before speaking.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. In the end, the only path is to live true to one's self. When one's heart truly yearns for something, to give it up is to die a small death. I suspect you already know that."
The spearman could only nod. The words resonated within his Daoheart.
'This is the only path. To live true, rather than languish in falsehood.'
"Then, I'll ask again. What do you plan to do now?" Hong Long Aochang said.
"I... I am going to do whatever feels right," Xi Fu decided, narrowing his eyes. "And right now, that's punching Ji Ran in the face. Will the Redscale clan intervene?"
A wry smile came across the draconic elder's face.
"Do as you please."
Xi Fu did not bother saying goodbye. With a leap, he shot through the air like an arrow from a bow. He soared through the air silently. The Ji family manor was not far from Xue Xiang's home. Guards in the Foundation Establishment realm roamed the courtyard, playing cards or chatting over wine. None noticed the Third Realm former-thief slip through their defences.
Xi Fu stalked through the halls of the house, dodging maids and servants, until he arrived at the master bedroom. Within, screaming and shouting could be heard alongside the crash of tossed objects.
"No! You've done enough to embarrass my clan! You're not taking on any more wives!" It was Madam Fang, Ji Ran's first wife.
She had been the one to hire him to seduce and impregnate Xue Xiang all those years ago, as a form of revenge on her husband. And she hadn't said no to a fun lay either. If not for her subtle support, he would not have been able to flee Redscale City alive after cucking Ji Ran's son and nearly destroying a major marriage alliance.
"I've had enough of your ridiculous hysterics, woman! I wouldn't have to find other wives if you'd birthed me any talented children. My father has been asking me if any of the other kids have shown Xiyi's promise-"
"Xiyi this! Xiyi that! Is she the only one of your children that matters? What about Fang'er? He'd been begging you to teach him-"
"I'm busy! I don't have time to waste tutoring that failure."
"Busy what? Busy fucking whores?"
"Producing children for the clan, you mean! My duty! Maybe you would understand if you weren't a frigid, infertile bit-"
Xi Fu slammed his foot into the door of their room, knocking it down. The wood shattered into splinters and fell to the ground as the Armada Captain stepped into the room. Both the noble Ji Ran and his wife, Madam Fang turned to stare at him in shock.
"Miss me?" Xi Fu winked.
Ji Ran blinked his eyes a few times in disbelief.
"You?"
"Me," the spearman nodded with a grin.
Ji Ran's jaw dropped. His face began to turn purple with fury. He lifted a finger, pointing at the intruder in complete outrage.,
"You dare show your face in front of me after what you did? You-you adulterous peasant! How did you even get past the guards-"
Ji Ran was only in the Foundation Establishment Realm. He was not even close to leaving its second stage.
Ji Ran had barely a hint of the Redscale clan's wild, draconic features. He did not even carry a weapon.
Ji Ran... was weak. He was weaker than Xi Fu could ever have expected.
There was a time, all those years ago, when the very sight of the man inspired terror and fear in the boy. It was not until finally seeing him once more, that the boy-turned-man remembered those feelings and the shadow they had cast onto his heart. But now, that fear melted away like winter snow in the spring.
'What do I have to be afraid of? A man who has been stuck in the second realm for nearly a decade? A 'powerful' noble, whose patriarch had no interest in even saving him from me? A fat noble who has never been in a real fight? What... a joke. What an absolute joke.'
It was difficult to even remember why the man had ever seemed scary. The visage of him standing before Xi Fu, fat belly jutting forward, and face purple with apoplectic rage was more pitiful than anything else
"I'm going to enjoy this," Xi Fu admitted.
He shot forward. His fist met the fat noble's chin. A brutal crunching sound rang out as the Qi-laced fist shattered bone. Ji Ran stumbled, but did not fall, his heft and girth providing a good counterweight to Xi Fu’s punch. His eyes however…
Terror. Absolute, unmitigated terror. Those were the emotions that filled Ji Ran's eyes as he immediately realized that the man before him was far beyond him in strength. Eyes boggling with panic, the noble attempted to reach for his spatial ring. With a flick of his finger, Xi Fu's Spear Intent shredded Ji Ran’s arm into a pink paste of bloody gore and ground bone dust.
Ji Ran fell onto his oversized ass, screaming in agony as he did so. Perhaps it was the most pain he’d ever felt in his entire life.
"Aaaaaaaaugh, uuuuuuuuuh, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!"
The bone-chilling screams were so loud you’d have thought he was dying.
Xi Fu stared down at the man, watching as each scream sent ripples and jiggles across his obese flesh. The spearman's eyes burned with cold fury and a sneer grew on his lips. He slowly raised his hand, curling his fingers into a ball.
He watched as Ji Ran's pupils dilated, eyes locked on the terrifying image of Xi Fu's raised fist, which was wreathed in blazing qi. Then the cultivator slammed his hand forward, punching Ji Ran in the face. The Second Realm cultivator flew backwards, teeth and blood spurting from his mouth as his already cracked jaw was further mangled, one half hanging off entirely.
Turning to look at Madam Fang, Xi Fu could only smirk wryly at the slight look of satisfaction in her eyes. What a vengeful woman! He could only hope he never angered any of his lovers as much as Ji Ran had his main wife.
The Captain turned to look down at the sobbing, blood-covered nobleman he had just punched.
"Henceforth, Xue Xiang is no longer your property, do you understand?" Xi Fu said, glaring down at the blubbery aristocracy. "You can consider that punch your official notice of divorce."
"Mgryuhb-" Ji Ran attempted to speak, only for thick congealed blood to dribble from the mangled puddle of viscera that used to be his tongue.
"As for Xiyi-She was never your daughter," Xi Fu stared down at Ji Ran's dilated eyes. "Don't even breathe in her direction ever again. Or I will kill you."
Ji Ran’s eyes widened even further, fat tears spilling from them as he began to sob. Thick streams of mucus poured from his nose as he cried. For nearly a decade, Hong Long Xiyi was his only success, and he was told as much to his face by many. The only talented child of a wastrel loser. After her birth, he’d been rewarded with great wealth and status and told to have more children.
But, not a single one of them could hold a candle to her. Privately, he wondered if she was even his. It had become an all-consuming paranoia of his. He even began to grow to slightly resent the girl whose birth had overshadowed every single other thing he had ever done.
As he met Xi Fu’s cold eyes, he knew in his heart that the man was telling the truth. Xiyi was not his daughter-she never had been.
‘If not for that daughter of yours, I would not have made you the heir-your younger brother is more talented in every way…’ his father had said.
‘Hey brother Ran, had any more talented kids lately? Just the one? Are you sure she’s yours?’ his brother had said.
‘At least you managed to accomplish one thing of note in your life. I can finally see giving birth to you was not a waste,’ his mother had said.
It was over. Once it came out that Xiyi was not his daughter, his life was done. His rise in status and wealth had offended a lot of people. Without the shield of the clan, the vultures would descend.
Ji Ran’s remaining arm reached for his necklace. A small, carved wooden dragon. It was a Fourth-Realm life-saving talisman called the Violet-Fire Dragon Charm. When activated, Ji Ran would gain the power to kill even a Nascent Soul realm cultivator-for only five minutes. He’d been given it by an elder after that child’s birth.
How ironic.
‘I’ll kill all of us! That bastard peasant-My bitch wife! I’ll blow us all to hell! Ji Ran will die on his own terms!’
A tiny spark of Qi was all it took to ignite the wood, and Ji Ran smiled as best as he could with his mangled face, eyes blazing with fervour.
‘Die with me, Xi Fu!’